In quest of Marx. The title says it and promptly pictures the content of Blum's video. Before striking out after Marx, Blum states the reason and aim of his quest. He recognises that in order to put some distance between himself and the world he must change places and detach himself. He also realises that the project is doomed to failure anyway: "Filming 'Das Kapital' was too much for me. Or I was just not big enough for 'Das Kapital'. At that moment I remembered a Persian proverb: if you're going to enter a house, make sure you know how to get out again." And thus begins Blum's quest, filmed like a home video by a somewhat scatterbrained holidaymaker. In monotonous tones he discusses the implications of Marx's ideas. The voice-over frequently degenerates into background surface noise. This is not such a bad thing, for the images are funny, absurd and sometimes hilarious. We see Blum in various places at an almost deserted ski resort. He is dressed for winter sports, complete with sun-glasses and gloves, while reading 'Das Kapital'. Interacting with other people is definitely out; Blum is permanently immersed in Marx. Even when he is for once not actually reading, he continues to refer to 'Das Kapital' via Coca Cola and Campbell's soup logos. When an unclothed Blum puts down his book in a corner of a swimming pool, the monotony of the voice-over is broken by a woman's voice saying: "Michael, it's time to meet Dr. Trotsky." To which he replies: "That's right, but what is there left?", and dives under the water. We are left with the image of an abandoned book and a floating little water ring. By diving off Blum escapes from an absurd project, absurdly presented.
– Anita de Groot |
Camera: Craig Lewis, Michael Blum
Editing: Shawn Henry
Sound: Paul Herspiegel
Music: Rinôçérôse, Satyajit Raj
Voice: Michael Blum, Margarita Paksa
With: Michael Blum, David Thorne, Penelope Buitenhuis, Nurit Melamed, Jeff Derksen e.a.
Production: Banff Centre for the Arts/Michael Blum
Michael Blum, 1966, Jeruzalem (Israel)
Lives and works in in Paris (France) and Amsterdam (Netherlands)
|
|
2 0 0 0 
